AMANDA'S BASKETS: BACK TO CREATING...

Friday, January 4, 2019

BACK TO CREATING...

Again, wishful thinking...or is it wishful posting. I remember taking this picture in Maine after a nice fluffy snow fall. Here...still green...and lots of leaves.

So I finished the newsletter this morning, including all the links, and sent it on it's way to be edited. Hopefully everything is okay and I am done with it. If not, I guess I will work on it once again

It's been a couple months since I've lead a workshop at the guild. Trying to come up with something that is fairly easy and for which I can supply everything except scissors, I settled on Wonky Weaving.

I am actually looking forward to leading the workshop. I have missed doing it although my time has been filled with tons of other activities.

I have even been creating again with fabric. Here's the base...

And this is my final piece. Don't let it's simplicity fool you. It took a lot of time to arrange it the way I liked. And even now, I would like to change things around but everything is already secured tightly. I am thinking of covering it with a single piece of tulle or netting.

I call this creation 'Connections'. Again, it is with fringed fabric. I seem to be drawn to fringing fabric for some reason. It's very relaxing...

So, my plans for exercising every weekday this week has been thrown to the wayside with all the activities with deadlines...especially the errands and newsletter. So, today since it is still in the morning I will at least get a mile walk in as well as the 15 minute stretch and balance routine.

Weekend plans include taking down the outside decorations. I like to keep up the outside decorations through the Twelve Days of Christmas. Inside decorations? They will stay up for a couple more weeks before I began to slowly transform the living area into a spring theme.

The other project I would like to finish this weekend is my plans/ideas for 2019. I have been working on these here and there. It's time I sat down and draw all the loose ends together into one cohesive, organized, doable plan.

So how about you? Any weekend plans? Are you making any plans for the new year?

Thanks for stopping by here...
I'll talk with you on Monday...
Enjoy your weekend...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?